Sidekicks Chapter 1 A Bat
by pendingmedic
Summary: While visiting a special place called "Sidekicks" , Robin I , Dick Grayson begins to spin a tale from his days
1. Chapter 1

Sidekicks!

By: Stargater 37

Introduction:

Throughout time and space there have always been heroes. The person, who steps up to save the day, the girl or even the world a time or two is that. These tasks are seldom accomplished alone. Those who help the heroes have become known as the sidekicks. They are the unnamed assistants or the person who blends into the background when feats are celebrated. It can be a thankless job but I care about them. So I opened "Sidekicks", a multidimensional club, which spans time and space and caters exclusively to the unknown heroes of the day. My name is Sam and I serve as host, chief bartender and willing ear to those who come in. My only price for the visit is a tale. These are those stories.

Chapter 1

"A Bat"

Gotham City, it is a modern city that has seen its fair share of troubles. Statistically it ranks as one of the highest crime centers of the United States. The other statistic rarely quoted is the amount of crime stopped by the means of one man. His nicknames include **the Caped Crusader**, **the Dark Knight**, **the Dark Knight Detective**, and **the World's Greatest Detective**; he is known as Batman. His assistants account for a fair share of my business some nights. As I took a pitcher over to their table, I wonder if their own room would be in order. Tonight was the Robin's nest. There was Jason Todd, Robin II, Tim Drake, Robin III, a young Dick Grayson, Robin I, and An older version of Dick Grayson, Nightwing, Stephanie Brown, Robin IV and Damian Wayne, the latest to this long line of sidekicks. They thank me for the drinks and I hung back to listen to the stories. Young Dick Grayson was the first to begin a tale of his days under the tutoring of the bat.

The years begin to blur together at a point. When I first joined forces with the Batman I thought that this was going to be the greatest adventure I have ever known. My days were school and polishing my image of rich boy Dick Grayson. My nights comprised the hunt for criminals and evil doers alike. This particular night in August Batman and I had just got done shutting down a counterfeiting ring. He saw the bat signal and left immediately for police headquarters to meet with Gordon. Leaving me to mop up after the fight. Did I enjoy playing janitor? Did I enjoy cataloging weapons? The answer is no but it was part of the job. At this point Stephanie Brown began chuckling and remarked he's done that to me so many times I can't count.

I know what you mean replied Dick. As I went through the items we had confiscated I found a notebook with names and addresses and pictures of pretty young girls. Looking at the notes inside the notebook I soon discovered that our friend boss Crenshaw had his hands in a little more than just funny money. Looking through the pictures I soon discovered a familiar face. It was the face of Karen Kane a classmate of mine who I had not seen in school that week. According to the notes Karen had been abducted the prior week and was set to be sold to an Asian freighter captain who was looking for girls. Holy kidnapping the date the date of the sale was tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Bat Part 2**

I needed to find her. I went out to my Robin cycle; I rode off into the night heading for Gotham Harbor. Once I arrived at the shipyard, a sweep was made to find all the Asian ships in port. The most promising entry was a ship known as, "The Golden Monkey". It had been anchored for about 2 weeks and no known departure date was on the books.

After sneaking aboard the freighter, I covertly got the lay of the land so to speak. Most of the crew was off the ship and the Captain was sleeping in his quarters. A radioman was listening to a tape of Chinese music. Making my way down below, I found a sentry standing guard over the hold. Rather than announce my presence, a stealth entry was made from topside.

What I found sickened me. There were about a dozen girls all between the ages of 14-18. They were shackled to various supports throughout the hold. Their clothing ripped and dirty, some of them were conscious and crying, the others were out for the count. The girls had been beaten and from the looks of them abused is various ways. There in the middle was Karen Kane, lying on the floor of the freighter in a pool of water, bleeding from numerous cuts. Her clothing ripped away, lying next to her in a rumpled mess, leaving her in her underwear. Sneaking back to topside, I attempted to contact Batman. There was no answer. Checking with the cave, Alfred let me know he was summoned by the Justice League on a matter of the upmost importance. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered if it was the monthly card game or an urgent mission. I was on my own. What would the Batman do?


	3. Chapter 3

Taking a play from the Beatles songbook, I'll get by with a little help from my friends. I made some call and after a bit, I met them on the pier next to "the Golden Monkey". Speedy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Batgirl showed up to help me rescue the girls from the ship. The plan was simple, Speedy would pose as a guy who captured two girls and offer to sell them to the captain. The two girls would be Donna and Barbara, dressed in disguises, and acting like they were drugged so as to not put up a fight. Wally and I would sneak aboard and be prepared to act when the moment was right.

Speedy led Donna and Babs up to the gangway and demanded to see the captain. Wally and I watched from the shadows. The captain denied, wanting to buy the girls. Speedy, being an effective salesman convinced the man that these two were defiantly worth his money. He began leering at Babs in an unsavory way. It was all I could do to stop myself from pouncing on the man and beating him within an inch of his life.

_Nightwing listening to the story smirked a little knowing what his younger self felt for Barbara Gordon._

The Captain then went back into his cabin motioning for Speedy to wait. A few minutes later, he reappeared and handed Speedy a couple stacks of wrapped bills. Roy took the money and told the Captain to enjoy his purchase and walked off. A couple of deck hands took Donna and Barbara and began leading them down to the hold. The Captain grabbed Babs and said he would take care of her personally. A fear rolled over me, the Captain had deviated from my plan. But, you know what they say about the best laid plans. Speedy back in his uniform showed and whispered for Kid Flash and I to take the hold and he would back up Batgirl.

In the hold, we saw the goon squad, tying Donna to a support beam. The time was now. I threw two Bat-bangs into the hold and stunned the guards. Wally sped in and cut the girls loose as Donna showed her true Amazon colors and threw the guards against the wall of the hold. Stunned and disorientated, the guards fell to the floor and slipped in unconsciousness. Donna, Wally and I got the girls off the ship. Karen was still out of it so I carried her out. My mind slipped back to weeks earlier at the school. Doing my best, Richard Grayson, playboy in training, impersonation, I had asked Karen out to the upcoming dance. She practically laughed in my face saying, "She preferred the tough guys." Wonder what she would say if she knew who I really was. The girls were all crying as EMT's and Gotham PD were caring for them. As they loaded, Karen into the ambulance, it occurred to me, "BABS!" Running up the gangway towards the Captain's cabin, I was greeted by the sight of him pinned to the bulkhead by arrows and a bat-line tying his feet. Batgirl and Speedy were standing back admiring their handy work. I should have known better than to worry, Babs was one girl who could take care of herself and Speedy had her back. All, in all, not a bad night's work for us, the slavers were jailed the sent back to their country and tried. Batman complimented me on my quick thinking. And the final craziest thing was two weeks later when Karen returned to school, she sought out young Richard Grayson apologized for laughing and asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance the following week. With that the table raised their glasses and so did Sam from behind the bar, Here's to Robin the 1st, the best of the best.

The End for Now!

To Be Continued Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel


End file.
